Baby Travel During H1N1

We have a few friends getting ready to embark on family holidays. With the H1N1 being in the news every time you turn it on, it is hard not to think about how that will or will not affect your family vacation.

Back in May 2009 when the Swine Flu was all everyone was talking about, my family was getting ready for our first trip to Disneyland. This was during the time when people were on planes coming out of Mexico with masks on, quarantines, etc.

My parents (the kid’s Granny and Grandpa) were nervous about us flying from Calgary to California under these circumstances. I felt confident that an organization like Disney would have measures in place to deal with such an outbreak. Just in case, we talked to the kids before we left about the fact that they might see some people in the airport wearing masks and what that was all about.

In the end, our flight was pretty uneventful. We two people at LAX wearing masks and the kids didn’t really seem to bothered by it.

When we arrived at the Disneyland Park I was sure we would see some upgraded measures. Wrong. There were no signs up, no hand sanitizing stations, nobody wearing masks, etc. I was surprised, but reassured for some reason. Disneyland felt so safe and secure that I didn’t really think about the Swine Flu at all while we were there. That may have been a false sense of security, but we had a wonderful time and none of us fell ill.

One of my friends was insistent on getting the H1N1 vaccine for her boys before they left for Hawaii. My other friend has decided not to vaccinate her 5-year-old and is headed down to California next week. Hopefully, they all enjoy a safe and fabulous family vacation!